In the u. S. The complaint also alleges twitter employees provided private information like email addresses, ip addresses, and dates of birth. And back in sessions . Former attorney general Jeff Sessions planning to run for his Old Senate Seat in alabama. But can he win the republican nomination despite the opposition of his former boss, President Trump . The attorney general thanks im going to recuse myself. If i had one doover, i would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be my attorney general. Jeff sessions didnt have a clue. And good day, everyone, im Andrea Mitchell in washington where President Trump is forcefully challenging a Washington Post report now picked up by others as well, confirming that he urged attorney general bill barr to publicly clear him of wrongdoing connected to the controversial call with ukraines president by holding a News Conference that the attorney general was supposed hold to say that the president had not broken any laws. The tweets slamming the Washington Post from the president began just before the story broke last night and have continued today, even as House Democrats are questioning a top Foreign Policy adviser to the Vice President , jennifer williams. Meanwhile, a noshow today, former National Security adviser john bolton. More on that coming up. Joining me now, nbc News White House correspondent kristen welker. Nbcs Geoff Bennett on capitol hill. New york times White House Correspondent michael crowley. Msnbc justice and security analyst matt miller, former chief spokesman for attorney general eric holder. Welcome, all. Kristen, lets start with you. And the president dining this report, but now its been confirmed by multiple news organizations, New York Times, wall street journal, and others, first broken by the Washington Post, that he asked his attorney general to clear him of any wrongdoing. Andrea, i think its important to point out that we have seen this tactic from the president in the past. The he vigorously denies a story on twitter and then theres even more evidence months later that it is in fact true. So this is not new. This is what President Trump is saying today, though, about that very report that you mentioned. He said, bill barr did not decline my request to talk about ukraine, the story was a fake Washington Post con job with an anonymous source that doesnt exist. The tweet goes on and on. We havent gotten a denial from bill barr, which is notable, andrea. Now, i did have a chance to ask Kellyanne Conway about this reporting. And i asked her broadly, look, did anyone here at the white house convey this message to the Justice Department . She said, im not going to speak for everyone at the white house but the bottom line is the president injecrejects this sto. This comes as the white house intensifies its strategy, bringing pam bondi on board, some are wondering if that is a conflict because she is a lobbyist. The white house knows this impeachment inquiry will continue to escalate. This very notion, would the attorney general hold a public News Conference, you recall, andrea, when the Mueller Report was released, in the hours beforehand bill barr held that public News Conference and President Trump thought that that was a good idea. And so this story fits into that broader sort of way in which the president approaches things here. And lets talk, Geoff Bennett, about some of the witnesses today. We dont have john bolton who is obviously a star witness, potentially. Hes communicating that he would be willing to testify if the courts clear it. But that Court Hearing by the attorney for his former deputy, Charles Kupperman, is not even scheduled until december. What were now hearing from the committee that you cover up there, theyre not going to wait for that. So basically john bolton is a noshow. Yeah, and ill explain it from the beginning, because our reporting, and nbc was first to report this, is that john bolton had signaled to the committees that he was open to appearing before house investigators but only in public, andrea. There are several caveats that he put on this offer, only in public, only if he was subpoenaed, and only if the courts gave the green light for it. Now, as you mentioned, House Democrats last night actually pulled the subpoena that they issued to Charles Kupperman who was john boltons longtime associate and deputy on the National Security council. House democrats made the point they could not afford the delay that the court case would make and in just the last ten minutes or so ago, a source connected with the House Intelligence Committee put out a statement saying, we regret mr. Boltons decision not to appear voluntarily but we have no interest in allowing the administration to play rope a dope with us in the courts for months. Rather, the white house instruction that he not appear will add to the evidence of the president s obstruction of congress. There is another dynamic to this too, as we talked about yesterday, House Democrats are carefully choreographing the way in which they schedule these public hearings. To insert john bolton who would be the wildest of wild cards into this process without knowing what he would say because they would not have had the chance to depose him publicly, that clearly is not a gamble that House Democrats are willing to make. So it appears from this statement that they are prepared to move on. They believe they have everything they need to make the public case on impeachment against President Trump, andrea. And i want to go back also to the william barr controversy because we just received something, matt miller, from marty barron, the top official, executive editor at the Washington Post, he writes, the post stands behind its story and its reporters who are among the finest journalists everywhere. The president s repugnant attempt to intimidate the post and its staff, we will continue to do the work that democracy demands of a free and independent press. Thats about as categorical defense of the posts reporting which others have confirmed and is only being denied on twitter by the president. I havent seen any denial by bill barr. The president s statement is obviously false, not the first time hes said a story is true that he knows is true. The attorney general hasnt denied it. I think we can stipulate that the story is very much true. The president s conduct, the fact that he would ask the attorney general to do this is so inappropriate. This was a matter, this phone call between President Trump and president zelensky, is a matter that was before the department for review. They decided not to open an investigation based on very narrow grounds. They could change that decision down the road. For the president to insert himself and ask the attorney general to make this statement is completely, completely inappropriate. The type of conversations an attorney general and a president are not supposed to have. And i think the fact that they had this conversation, again, raises the question about why the department if the president and the attorney general were having this type of conversation, what other conversations were happening between the department and the white house when the department decided not to open a full investigation into this . Remember, they were already looking at Rudy Giuliani and his ukrainian american colleagues who are now both under indictment, before this phone call. It makes no sense that they didnt open a full investigation once they found this out. I think what were starting to see is there was probably some contact between the white house and the department of justice and the department is very nervous about us finding out the full story. And of course this is the context of what william barr is doing by going around the world, launching an investigation into the socalled origins of the original russian hacking and whether or not it was ukraine, which many people believe are false conspiracy theories, and William Barrs behavior before the Mueller Report was released by prebutting it and putting out his own inaccurate summary of it. Absolutely. You could see why the president would think its okay to cross this ethical line, because bill barr has told him it was okay to do so. Bill barr put his own spin on the Mueller Report, misled the public about what was in the report. We know hes launched this investigation into the origins and has talked to the president about it despite it being an internal doj matter and now a criminal investigation, hes talked to President Trump about it and asked him to contact Foreign Governments. So you can see why President Trump would think that the line that has traditionally straight the white house and the Justice Department no longer exists because up to now, thats what the attorney general has told him. I want to bring attention to another cabinet member, a very important one. Secretary of state mike pompeo in germany today. Matt crowley, lets talk about the way he has deflected and avoided questions. He was asked specifically today one question, because theres one Pool Reporter traveling with him. He was asked one question about mike mckinley, his closest adviser who resigned in protest over the secretary of states refusal to back up his people, specifically marie yovanovitch, his recalled ambassador from ukraine. And the testimony from mckinley as released was that three times he asked mike pompeo to come to the defense of yovanovitch and of other Foreign Service people who were being sidelined and smeared by giuliani and others, and that he refused or didnt answer, and that that led to mckinley resigning and testifying. He was going to testify in any case. So here is, if you listen very carefully to the artful way that mike pompeo deflects this question, the question he was asked was, you have said that ambassador mckinley did not make known to you his objections over the recalling of ambassador yovanovitch but hes testifying that three times he directly appealed to you to make a statement in her support. You did not, why not . Now, the mckinley testimony all related to inquiries to pompeo at the end of september and he resigned in early october. Listen carefully to the way mike pompeo answered. With respect to ambassador mckinley, i think he said at the Opening Statement that he put out that he wasnt particularly involved in the ukraine file so its not surprising that when, uh, ambassador yovanovitch returned to the United States that he didnt raise that issue with me. That it shouldnt surprise anyone that in may, when that took place, he didnt say a thing to me. In may when that took place. Thats not what the testimony was. Mike crowley, the whole point was, this happened in september, not in may. In may, mckinley didnt even know about the phone call that was yet to happen and the increasing pressure. So hes answering a different question. Hes not answering the specific question hes asked. Hes very careful, lawyerly, hes a harvard lawyer, not lying, but by implication he is, because hes dissembling. I think thats the right word. Its an evasion. Youre almost better off you know, his line up until now, when hes been asked many of these questions, has been, well, i dont comment on internal deliberations. And he wasnt willing to engage at all. I guess he must have felt like that wasnt working. Secretary pompeo was taking an enormous amount of criticism from people who felt both that he had handled this entire ukraine policy situation and particularly the fate of the ambassador poorly, and in addition people felt that he was not being forthright, not engaging with questions. So here hes modifying his strategy a little bit. He is talking about internal deliberations. But he might have been better off before. The way hes delineated his answer is so peculiar. Shes chosen think one month in time which is not the time period at issue. And although it may be careful and lawyerly, its you know, theyre sort of clever, brilliantly lawyerly language where you dont realize the card trick being played. In this case it seems very couplesy. It clumsy. Its obvious what hes doing, avoiding the question and in a way, it concedes the answer. This is not going to put to rest suspicions about whether mike pompeo is being forthright about his role, what he knew and what he did in this story that continues to unfold. Michael crowley, so right, its not going to fool anybody in the state department, certainly not anybody on the impeachment inquiry committee. Kristen welker, Geoff Bennett, thanks very much. Matt miller, stay with us, we have some more to come on other issues. Coming up, the i word. Is the impeachment inquiry hurting democrats in red states . Well talk to Democratic Montana senator jon tester coming up. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc moderate o severe rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. Ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. Humira can help stop the clock. 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Whoof whoof so get allstate where good drivers save 40 for avoiding mayhem, like me. Sorry hes a baby welcome back. As House Democrats prepare for next weeks first public hearings on impeachment, the country remains deeply divided on the issue. How is it playing in Trump Country . Joining me now is democratic senator jon tester from montana which President Trump won by 20 points back in 2016, i dont have to remind you about that, senator tester, you beat the odds on that. First of all, how is impeachment playing back home . You know, folks are talking about it. Ive had a number of town halls, the only statewide person that does that in the congress. Ive had a number of town halls where it comes up. I wouldnt say that it comes up as the only talking point or the main talking point that we spend the most time on. We still spend more time on Health Care Costs and National Security. But its starting to pick up some steam in the minds of people moving forward. And im sure were going to hear more and more about it as the impeachment inquiry moves forward. Do you think the public hearings will help to try to make it a little bit more explainable . We dont know because we dont even know how much of a circus it will be, democrats are trying to prevent that from happening as it did after the Mueller Report. But we dont even know how it will play, do we . No, we dont, andrea. This is far bigger than politics. Ive looked back at some of the previous impeachment proceedings that have happened and i will tell you some of them were a little silly but some of them were important. This one rises in my opinion way above that. If these allegations turn out to be true, i certainly hope people quit playing games and move forward. If they dont turn out to be true then he needs to be acquitted and move on. Any time a sitting president is accused of asking a Foreign Government to deal with his adversaries or interfere with an election, thats a serious accusation. Ive read a lot of the transcripts and i think its important that folks move forward and dont approach this as a democrat or republican but approach it as an american and make the right decision for the country. Quite frankly, if in fact this turns out to be true and you do nothing, it sets the bar at a very, very low level moving forward. Of course the reception that any impeachment recommendation, if one were to happen, is going to get in the Mitch Mcconnell senate is a whole other issue. One of your colleagues, republican louisiana senator john kennedy, at the trump rally last night had this to say about the speaker of the house. Speaker nancy pelosi is trying to impeach him. I dont mean any disrespect but it must suck to be that dumb. I guess its a great laugh line at a rally. Apparently senator kennedy right now is being asked about this and hes saying he didnt mean any disrespect but thats what he said in front of a hometown rally. Look, john kennedy is a likeable guy, hes one of the people i do appreciate in the senate. But the problem here is that if you want to politicize this whole thing and say the hell with the country, thats the wrong direction to go. We need to get the facts. We need to get the information. And to be critical of somebody who wants to get the facts at this moment in time i think is running down a trail that he wants good for the future of this country and the future of our democracy. Coming from montana, do you have concerns about the democratic primary field right now . For instance, how, quote, progressive or liberal left it is, elizabeth warren, medicare for all most recently and her tax proposals, the way she thanks she wou says she would pay for it. And the way trump voters have to be reached if the democrats are going to win the presidency. First of all, andrea, i think its a good question. We are a long, long ways off from who is going to be our nominee to run against President Trump. I think its critical we have somebody that can win in between the appalachians and the rocky mountains. I think its very important that we get somebody that has a very common sense approach of how were going to move this country forward and reestablish this cry as t country as the greatest country in the world because weve lost that under this administration. If we dont get the right nominee, we dont win. Is the right nominee in the field right now . Absolutely. Theres plenty of people in the field right now that can beat donald trump. Theres multiple people that could beat him if he was the nominee. And i think that by the time this all gets sorted out, thats why democracies are so great, its ugly and hurts and is horrible to watch but at the end you end up with the best person who will be able to beat donald trump come november of next year. Jon tester, as always, a pleasure, sir, thanks for being with us. Andrea, always a pleasure, thank you. You bet. Coming up, social spies. Two former twitter employees charged with spying for saudi arabia. The details coming up next. Stay with us right here on msnbc. With us right he eron msnbc. Theyre americas biopharmaceutical researchers. Pursuing lifechanging cures in a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs. Like a way to fight cancer by arming a patients own tcells. Because its not just about the next breakthrough. Its all the ones after that. Ordinary tissues burn when theo blows. So dad bought puffs plus lotion, and rescued his nose. New puffs have more lotion. And soothing softness to relieve. 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Im proud to be a part of aag, i trust em, i think you can too. In what we believe is the first time american officials are publicly accusing saudi arabia of spying in the United States, yesterday the Justice Department announced charges against three people accused of spying for saudi arabia, among them two former twitter employees and an associate of the crown prince for allegedly gathering information on saudi dissidents here in the u. S. The charges are in sharp contrast of course to the white house and state departments support for the saudi leader despite u. S. Intelligence concluding that he was involved in the brutal murder, ordering it or condoning it, of americanbased journalist jamal khashoggi. President trump has refused to hold the saudi leader accountable and has in fact helped restore his reputation on the world stage. Joining me now, ned price, a former cia officer who served on the obama National Security team. Juan and ned are National Security analysts for nbc, happily. Juan, this is so unusual because the president and the state department have gone out of their way to absolve the crown prince of any responsibility for khashoggi despite the unanimous conclusion with high confidence or medium to high confidence that he was involved. Yeah, this is a remarkable case on several levels. First, what youre talking about, andrea, this touches the khashoggi case, demonstrates that from the leadership of saudi arabia you had monitoring of dissidents on twitter accounts. And it predates his murder. And it predates the murder. It demonstrates sort of at least knowledge of, intent to monitor khashoggi and others around him. The second part is just the remarkable fact that you have an ally getting into a major american technical company, technology company, trying to get access to data, and in the 21st century engaging in data warfare and repressive activity through a u. S. Company and the data it holds. And that raises all sorts of questions as to how u. S. Technology, u. S. Data, u. S. Companies are dealing with repressive regimes not just in saudi arabia but around the world. It finally raises the specter of what you do with these Major Companies that have so much data in their control, how do they deal with the Insider Threat problem, questions weve had in government for a long time and what do you do with Major Companies, alibaba, tencent . This case raises all sorts of interesting and intriguing questions. And the Foreign Policy complications as well as the National Security implications are that youve got a secretary of state and a president who are embracing dictators around the world and not speaking out against some of these leaders who, like the saudi leader, at the g20, he was ostracized until that g20 in osaka where the president put him front and center, embraced him and signified to the world hes back in business. Hes back in business, and i think in some ways, to what juan was saying, this is unsurprising. Yes, this is the first time weve seen this, but color me not shocked by what we learned from this Justice Department document yesterday. For too long weve been far too naive about the role of technology and the spread of democracy around the world. Were starting to see the dark side here, the use of these very technologies that held so much promise in the green movement, in the fall of the berlin wall, for example, now being used to target dissidents around the world. And weve certainly seen an analog to this when it comes to saudi arabia. Of course they have a massive intelligence apparatus, everything that goes through their routers and servers, they can get ahold of. Whats new here is riyadh is leveraging foreign technologies and foreign tools. Last year a group of canadian researchers put out a report saying that just before Jamal Khashoggis death, the saudis had used an Israeli Company to get into one of the whatsapp messages to track khashoggi. This is saudi agents actually even perhaps at the direction of the saudi crown prince, who is referred to in this document as royal Family Member number one, actually going into a u. S. Company and using the very tools of that very company from the inside. It should send a shiver down the backs of dissidents and critics of repressive and authoritarian governments around the world and it should be a warning call to Companies Like twitter, facebook, whatsapp and others who often host these sensitive communications. Were not even talking about the election interference which has already been established, and were now projecting it could happen again, and in fact there were attempts in 2018. The u. S. Government shut down the st. Petersburg Internet Agency during the period before, during, and after the 2018 campaign, just as a warning and because they were seeing it happening. I wanted to also ask you about erdogan, talking about repressive regimes. The last time the turkish leader came here in 2017, 11 or 12 of his bodyguards were charged with beating up on protesters right on embassy row on mass avenue in the heart of d. C. And they of course got back on the plane before those charges were leveled, have not been, you know, ever caught. Extradited. Or extradited, for sure. And now the president announces erdogan is coming on the day of the first public hearings on impeachment. Yeah, there are a lot of folks who thought erdogan should not have been invited, obviously. After what happened. After what happened on the syrian front. If erdogan expects the red carpet, hes not going to get it in washington. Its one thing to talk about what reception the president will give him, but on capitol hill theres a lot of frustration and anger not just around the invasion of syria but the stance turkey has taken visavis american interests. The buying of Russian Air Defense systems despite the row te protestations of the u. S. But its allies. It goes well beyond just the syria issue which is a major aggravant. You can see that capitol hill is likely to react pretty ferociously. If the ceasefire doesnt hold, if turkey misbehaves, i would anticipate further sanctions from capitol hill and maybe timed to his visit. And Lindsey Graham has spoken out against it, at least for now. Exactly. Thank you both so much. Coming up, stonewall. Prosecutors trying to tie roger stone, russian hacking, and President Trump together for the first time. Thats in a federal court now. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports. Surprise a new buick . For me . To james, from james. 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Bounty, the quicker picker upper. When we were looking he wanted someone super quiet. Yeah, and he wanted someone to help out with chores. So, we got jeanpierre. But one thing we could both agree on was getting geico to help with renters insurance. Yeah, geico did make it easy to switch and save. Oh no. Theres a wall there now. Thats too bad. Visit geico. Com and see how easy saving on renters insurance can be. Aewith Medicare Advantage plans designed for the whole you. And monthly premiums starting at 0. Plus hospital, medical and Prescription Drug coverage in one simple plan. And Health Coaching and fitness memberships to help you age actively. So you can be ready for what matters most. Call today. Well send you a 10 visa reward card with no obligation to enroll. Medicare annual enrollment ends december 7th. Turning now to the trial of long time trump political confidant roger stone, now in its second day. In opening arguments prosecutors said they will be able to prove that stone lied about calls with President Trump at key moments when russian hacked democratic emails were being released by wikileaks during the 2016 campaign. Prosecutors introduced dozens of phone records allegedly showing that in 2016 stone was allegedly trying to obtain the emails stolen by wikileaks. Nbcs ken dilanian who is covering the trial joins me now. Ken, i mean, the Mueller Investigation tried to establish this link, and you could say did in one of the parts of the report, but it was never established, we never heard it in testimony. This is real live testimony making this allegation, if its proved. I was stunned yesterday sitting in court listening to aaron zelensky, the lead prosecutor, who used to work for mueller, lay out this timeline where he talked about roger stone calling donald trump on the very day in june 2016 that the Washington Post reported that the dnc had been hacked by the russians. There were a number of calls after that between stone and trump and then there were emails between stone and Paul Manafort then running the Trump Campaign, and steve bannon, a close trump confidant, all on the subject of how are we going to get these emails, how will we deploy them against hillary clinton. How do we know what the subject was . The emails are introduced into evidence. We know that stone said, i have a plan to beat hillary clinton, it aint pretty. We dont know what he said to President Trump. Look, this is the only thing roger stone was working on. If he was talking to donald trump multiple times during this period, he was talking about this. Stone would reach out to his friend jerome corsi who he was tasking with meeting with Julian Assange in london. Is the defense that he was a f fabulist, that he was making stuff up, the defense is that he was a liar . Yes, and that puts him in a good position, its hard to prosecute a liar for perjury. Theyre also saying he didnt have corrupt intention and the prosecution has to prove that. What theyre saying is his corrupt intent was, he knew that if the truth came out it would be bad for the Trump Campaign and bad for donald trump. You also have reporting that the cia director who has been under the radar and trying to avoid controversies, that gina haspel is being pressured to take a stand to protect the whistleblower from President Trump and his allies. Officials acknowledge that gina haspel is in an excruciating position. She doesnt want to be in a public fight with the president of the United States. She briefs him all the time. She briefs him regularly. At the same time hes going up to the edge of outing the whistleblower. His son has used a name on social media that right wing media claims is the whistleblower. My sources tell me its dangerous for the whistleblower. It could be career ending. It could be career ending. They would like her, at least behind the scenes, to tell the president to cut it out. A lot of reporting, we know you love your job, because this is so fascinating, you couldnt make it up. Thank you, ken dilanian. Coming up, Jeff Sessions expected to announce he is going to run for his Old Senate Seat in alabama. Will President Trump campaign against the attorney general he fired . You can count on that. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. Reports only on msnbc i didnt have to run for help. I didnt have to call 911. And i didnt have to come get you. Because you didnt have another heart attack. Not today. You took our conversation about your chronic coronary Artery Disease to heart. Even with a stent procedure, your condition can get worse over time, and keep you at risk of blood clots. So you added xarelto®, to help keep you protected. 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Before treatment your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs, or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. Nothing is everything ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. Hes back. Former attorney general Jeff Sessions whom the president calls his biggest mistake plans to run for his Old Senate Seat. Sessions is likely to announce his plans on fox news tonight. He will join a crowded field of candidates running to unseat Democrat Doug Jones in 2020 including roy moore, accused of Sexual Misconduct by several women. The New York Times reports that President Trump sent word to sessions he would publicly attack him if he ran, apparently not deterring sessions. Sessions has refrained from publicly criticizing the president despite the president s relentless attacks against his former ags recusal from the russia probe. If i had one doover it would be i would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. Jeff sessions didnt have a clue. The only reason i gave him the job, because i felt loyalty. He took the job and then he said, im going to recuse myself. I said, what kind of a man is this . Joining me now, ruth marcus, Deputy Editor of the Washington Post, and the reporter behind the Washington Posts powerup newsletter, and matt miller, former chief spokesman for the department of justice. Ruth, Jeff Sessions, beleaguered for recusing himself, which was not optional, it was an absolute requirement under the ethics the ethics folks at justice told him to do it, it wasnt his call. And how hes going to take it again . Hes a glutton for punishment. Or its really hard to give up power. But wow, is he in for it, because one thing we know about this president , he does not give up a grudge easily. His relationship with Jeff Sessions, this was the first sitting senator to endorse him. Then its just turned into this buddy movie gone bad. And this is going to be fun to watch. Alabama has turned out to be a state that is just going to keep on giving in terms of amusing us with its politics. I believe, if im not incorrect, jackie, the president is going to an alabama Football Game with the crimson tide tomorrow. Hes going to have an entire stadium of maybe 100,000 screaming fans to deride Jeff Sessions. The president won alabama by 62 , hes wildly popular there. 62 . Exactly right. If sessions was a democrat, the biggest mistake would be a Perfect Campaign logo. But hes not, and hes going to have a really rough go at it. Sessions is running, i hear, at the encouragement of his wife, to enhance his legacy, but it could have the opposite effect. As ruth points out, the totality of the trump sessions relationship is incredible to look at. From being incredibly loyal to resigning at the behest of the president and being incessantly mocked. Were told the president is going to be pretty active and come out against Jeff Sessions. And this race is important for republicans. Mitch mcconnell views this race as an insurance policy against some of the more difficult battleground races where republicans are going to struggle this time around. Because doug jones, in the context of roy moore and the egregious allegations against him, was an unlikely democratic win there and now has to run just two years later. Matt miller, in the world of the senate, Jeff Sessions, theres a lot of fondness for Jeff Sessions among his democratic colleagues. But the improbable thing about this is he was one of the most loyal cabinet members. He went hard on it, the separation of children, the other immigration crackdowns that the president wanted, he went along with enthusiastically, that was his mission. But that one issue, of course, is recusing himself which he could not avoid doing given his conflicts on the russia issue which of course led to robert mueller. Yeah, he really had no choice, as ruth said, it was a clear regulation, he had to recuse himself, there was no option, it wasnt an area where you could exercise discretion. Ruth hit the nail on the head, weve all known former members of the senate, others in public life who have a real problem when they leave, theres this withdrawal, you get used to the trappings of public life, you get used to people talking about you all the time, and they have a tough time anldz, and i suspect theres some of that here. I suspect theres some of that here he is a republican that is weakened in the eyes of the voters not just because of the way the president attacked him but heta never stood up for himself. He looked very weak in the way he handled that. Now we have a very open primary, rory moore, Jeff Sessions who was a senator in that state for many years ist now weakened, a it increases the chance that the ultimate republicannc nominee i not a generic republican that is the strongest person for doug jones to face. And that person will be tommy tupperville. He can run as an outsider and he is veryan pro trump, his priori is h getting trump reelected in 2020. The fascinating thing is that look, democrats have no business having a senate seat from alabama given, as jacky said, the political kpcompetition of e state. And they that they would have this raucous priority, and potentially they could deny im notld suggesting that would happen, but at least when you this kind of spectacle that we could be seeing, it increases the likelihood, what a soap opera. And corey lewendowski, Vaughn Hilliard saidki when will you decide to run, and he said by theid end of the year. He was on another plane, Corey Lewandowski being anointed to try to run for the senate. Another fun race for us to kor. He has a clip saying he has no responsibility to speak honestly to reporters because they dont speak honestly. Thank you all so much. We had a good time talking about that. Coming upbo next, breaking news about a massive tech fraud bust linked to china that could have serious National Security implications. Pete williams will join us, stay with us. S will join us, stay with us. Ee shipping. You get everything you need for your home at a great price, the way it works bestou, ill take that. Wait honey, no. When you want it. You get a delivery experience you can always count on. You get your perfect find at a price to match, on your own schedule. You get fast and Free Shipping on the things that make your home feel like you. Thats what you get when youve got wayfair. So shop now Liberty Mutual customizes your car insurance, hmm. Exactly. So you only pay for what you need. Nice. But, uh. Whats up with your. Partner . Not again. Limu thats your reflection. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty tthe bad news . Ouyour patience might not. Ay. New depend® fitflex underwear offers your best comfort and protection guaranteed. Because, perfect or not, lifes better when youre in it. Be there with depend®. Were oscar mayer deli fresh your very first sandwich,m. Your mammoth masterpiece. And. Whatever this was. Because we make our meat with the good of the deli and no artificial preservatives. Make every sandwich count with oscar mayer deli fresh. Im part of a community of problem solvers. We make ideas grow. From an everyday solution. To one that can take on a bigger challenge. We are solving problems that improve lives. 25 cent boneless wings at applebees. Born to be wild. Born to be on a bigwild. Lenge. Get em while theyre hot. Federal officials announcing big National Security concerns. Pete williams is tracking the story for us, pete . Andrea, a whole battalion of different federal agents accused the island of selling surveillance equipment to the u. S. Government claiming it was made in the usa but it was actually made in china. This is the scene on long high land today. Federal agents all over that company. For more than a decade they have sold millions of dollars of equipment to the u. S. Government that has been deployed on aircraft carriers, army and air force bases, other government installations. They have known Cyber Security problems, and all of the while they claimed it was made in the usa and the government says it was made in china, and either falsely labelled in china, that it was made in the usa, or came here and was modified. In fact, the government says that they never made anything in the usa. Today the feds arrested them, saying they made millions of dollars from the government contracts affording one of them to build an expensive yacht which the government has now seized. No comment from any of the Company Executives yet. We dont know if any of them have lawyers yet to hear from the other side. And the government says there are obvious security concerns when you have this surveillance equipment made by china in a way that could be exploited, and now the way, the process of removing all of this stuff from aircraft carriers even, the fbi, the head of the new york office said today that the only thing the company made in the u. S. Were the lies they told their victims. Wow, do they know exactly where all of these components are . Well, that is what theyre now trying to do. Theyre in the process of notifying the government clients at this company, customers, but also some private customers. Some nongovernment as a matter of fact, i think majority of what they sold was sold to other private customers and now the long process, the fbi even set up a website for anyone that did business with them to contact the fbi and find out if they figured their stuff out. We looked at the companys website and it says made in the usa. They touted it as a competitive advantage against their other companies and even at one point apparently the ceo of the company, the government says, complained that other companies were selling material that they claimed was made in the u. S. When it was in fact made in china and the government says he was using the same company in china to make his stuff. Thank you so much. An alarming story, just the first chapter in that one. Thank you feet williams, and this is a big week for hardball and chris matthews. They are celebrating an anniversary. They are going to look back at all of the top interviews, two decades of interviews. It will be right here on msnbc. Going over to ali velshi and stephanie ruhle. Coming up this hour, the impeachment inquiry is heating up. Were going to tell you who is testifying on the hill right now and why she has special insight into President Trumps you crane call. Also two former twitter employees charged with